James Rood Doolittle Sr. (January 3, 1815 – July 27, 1897) was an American lawyer, politician, andWisconsin pioneer. He represented Wisconsin for 12 years as aUnited States senator, from March 4, 1857, to March 4, 1869. During his years in the Senate, he was a Republican and a strong supporter ofAbraham Lincoln's administration during theAmerican Civil War. He was chairman of theSenate Indian Affairs Committee from 1861 to 1867.^[1][2] Later in life he became a member of theDemocratic Party and made an unsuccessful run forgovernor of Wisconsin.

The Honorable James R. Doolittle
Doolittlec. 1860–1875
Chairman of the Senate Indian Affairs Committee
In office March 4, 1861 – March 4, 1867
Preceded by	William K. Sebastian
Succeeded by	John B. Henderson
United States Senator fromWisconsin
In office March 4, 1857 – March 3, 1869
Preceded by	Henry Dodge
Succeeded by	Matthew H. Carpenter
Chairman of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee
In office 1868
Wisconsin Circuit Court Judge for the 1st Circuit
In office October 1853 – March 1856
Preceded by	Wyman Spooner
Succeeded by	Charles Minton Baker
Personal details
Born	(1815-01-03)January 3, 1815 Hampton, New York, U.S.
Died	July 27, 1897(1897-07-27) (aged 82) Providence, Rhode Island, U.S.
Resting place	Mound Cemetery, Racine, Wisconsin
Political party	Democratic (after 1871) Republican (1854–1871) Democratic (before 1854)
Spouse	Mary Lovina Cutting ​ ​ (m. 1837; died 1879)​
Children	6
Alma mater	Hobart College
Profession	Politician, lawyer

Born inHampton, New York, Doolittle was the son of Reuben Doolittle and Sarah Rood. He attendedMiddlebury Academy inWyoming, New York, and, in 1834, he graduated fromHobart College inGeneva, New York. He subsequently studied law and was admitted to theNew York bar association in 1837.

He then established a law practice inRochester. Doolittle moved toWarsaw, New York, in 1841. From 1847 to 1850, he was thedistrict attorney forWyoming County. He also served for a time as acolonel in theNew York Statemilitia.

In 1851, Doolittle moved toRacine, Wisconsin, and, in 1853, was elected Wisconsin Circuit Court Judge for the 1st Circuit, defeating incumbent appointeeWyman Spooner. During his time as judge, he presided over the July 1855 case ofThe State of Wisconsin v. David F. Mayberry,^[3] the result of which led to the only recordedlynching in the history ofRock County, Wisconsin. Doolittle resigned from the court in March 1856.

Until the 1850repeal of theMissouri Compromise, Doolittle was aDemocrat. He left the party and was elected and then elected to the Senate as aRepublican in 1857 and 1863, respectively. He was a delegate to thePeace Conference of 1861 inWashington, D.C.

While senator, Doolittle was the Chairman of theCommittee on Indian Affairs. Along with his colleague,Jacob Collamer ofVermont, Doolittle represented the minority view for the Mason Report (June 1860), which was prepared by the Senate committee to investigateJohn Brown's raid onHarper's Ferry in October 1859. He also proposed a constitutional amendment to ban secession.

During the Civil War, Doolittle supported many of Lincoln's policies, and he was active in representing Wisconsin's interests onCapitol Hill. During the summer recess of 1865, he visited the Natives west of theMississippi River as chairman of theJoint Special Committee on Conditions of Indian Tribes, which was charged with an inquiry into the condition of the Native tribes and their treatment by the U.S. civil and military authorities. In the West, the committee split into subcommittees, which considered different regions with Doolittle participating in the inquiry into Native affairs inKansas, theIndian Territory, andColorado.

The report of the committee,The Condition of the Tribes, was issued on January 26, 1867. Doolittle was accused byThe New York Times in 1872, while he was under consideration for appointment asSecretary of the Interior in the projected "reform cabinet" by Democratic presidential candidateHorace Greeley, of suppressing the report, as it contained information exposing the Native ring of fraudulent suppliers of goods to the Native tribes under treaty obligations. TheTimes alleged that the report was printed only after theCincinnati Gazette obtained a copy of it.^[4]

Doolittle took a prominent part in the debate on the various war and reconstruction measures, upholding the federal government but always insisting that theseceding states had never ceased to be a part of theUnion. He strongly opposed theFifteenth Amendment and believed that each state should determine questions ofsuffrage for itself.^[5]

After he left the Senate, he ran forGovernor of Wisconsin in 1871 as a Democrat. After he lost, he retired from politics.

Doolittle returned to the Midwest and became a lawyer inChicago,Illinois, while he maintained his residence in Racine. He served for a year as the acting president of theOld University of Chicago,^[6] and he spent many years on its staff as a professor in the law school as well as serving on the Board of Trustees.

He was president of theNational Union Convention of 1866 in Philadelphia and also of the1872 Democratic National Convention inBaltimore, which adopted the nomination ofHorace Greeley. He died ofBright's disease inEdgewood,Rhode Island in 1897,^[7] and was interred inMound Cemetery in Racine, Wisconsin.

James R. Doolittle married Mary Lovina Cutting on July 27, 1837. They had four sons and two daughters, and were married for 42 years before her death in 1879.^[8]

Their son James Jr. became a prominent lawyer in Chicago, and served five years on theChicago Board of Education.^[9]

• United States Congress."James R. Doolittle (id: D000428)".Biographical Directory of the United States Congress. Retrieved on 2009-04-28
• This article incorporates text from a publication now in thepublic domain: Wilson, J. G.;Fiske, J., eds. (1900)."Doolittle, James Rood" .Appletons' Cyclopædia of American Biography. New York: D. Appleton.